17 Jan 2025
Warwick presented at the SPIE BiOS Expo in San Francisco, California on biomolecular optomechanics.
Abstract
Proteins are the fundamental building block of life. Their function is determined in large part by their dynamics – how the protein moves through different conformations. Tools to understand protein dynamics are remarkably limited: molecular simulations struggle to predictively model them at relevant timescales, while real-time measurements are typically far slower than the characteristic speeds of protein motions. To resolve these challenges, my laboratory is developing biomolecular optomechanical tools: nanoscale optical cavities capable of rapid measurement and control of the dynamics of single proteins. In this presentation I will discuss or recent progress, demonstrating the first all-optical single protein traps, observing single protein binding dynamics at sub-microsecond speeds, modelling optomechanical control of of protein conformational changes, and our first steps towards realising this optomechanical control. We hope that these methods will enable a new class of tools to understand protein function, advancing our understanding of the molecular origins of disease, our ability to design drugs, and our ability to engineer artificial enzymes to purpose.
Watch presentation recording here
